all thumbs

all thumbs

Uncoordinated or clumsy with one's hands. My mother does beautiful calligraphy, but I'm all thumbs—I can barely hold the pen!

See also: all, thumb

all thumbs

Fig. very awkward and clumsy, especially with one's hands. Poor Bob can't play the piano at all. He's all thumbs. Mary is all thumbs when it comes to gardening.

See also: all, thumb

all thumbs

Physically awkward, especially with respect to the hands, as in When it comes to knitting, Mary is all thumbs. The notion of this idiom derives from a proverb in John Heywood's collection of 1546: "When he should get aught, each finger is a thumb."

See also: all, thumb

all thumbs

BRITISH, AMERICAN or

all fingers and thumbs

BRITISH

If you are all thumbs or all fingers and thumbs, you do something in a very clumsy way. Can you open this? I'm all thumbs. When I came to give the baby a bath, I was all fingers and thumbs.

See also: all, thumb

all thumbs

Lacking physical coordination, skill, or grace; clumsy.

See also: all, thumb